Santa Rosa highlight
Heart of Sonoma County wine country
Sonoma County is home to 495 wineries across 19 distinct wine appellations, with vineyards reaching back nearly two centuries and some historic wineries still operating from before Prohibition.
Sonoma County's wine industry runs deep in the region's history. Vitis vinifera vines may have been planted as early as 1817, and by the mid-1800s the industry was commercially significant—General Vallejo's vineyards near Sonoma were producing $20,000 in annual income by 1854, a substantial sum for the time. After Prohibition, historic wineries like Bundschu, Foppiano, Korbel, Simi, Gundlach, Quitzow and Sebastiani rebuilt the region's reputation.
Today the county contains 495 wineries spread across 19 American Viticulture Areas, or AVAs—recognized wine regions defined by climate and soil. The largest appellations include Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Sonoma Coast, each producing distinctive wines from the same grape varieties grown differently by terroir. Santa Rosa sits at the center of this landscape, a hub for visitors exploring the valleys and tasting rooms.
A family with roots in wine country, whether working in the industry or simply living in a community shaped by it, builds a life tied to the seasonal rhythms of the land. A term life policy sized to protect that life—the mortgage, the children's education, the family business—is the practical way families in wine country plan for continuity.